Green building initiatives included in new bylaw

Charlottetown planning committee chairman Rob Lantz says a single bylaw will help promote green development and allow for density increases. (City of Charlottetown)

New green building initiatives — such as installing a grass roof — may soon be more easily accessed by developers in Charlottetown.

In the past, developers would have to ask council for a variance to add floors to a building, a process that would take months as well as include public hearings and meeting with the planning department.

Rob Lantz, planning committee chairman, says putting the initiatives into a single bylaw will expedite the development process.

For example, developers who put grass on a flat roof building would be able to build more floors automatically. Replacing asphalt parking with grass, adding a public boardwalk along waterfront land or adding low-income housing to a new development will also allow for density increases.

"We built that all into the bylaw … whereby there is a standard height and a then bonus height that can be achieved by providing those public amenities," said Lantz.

So far, no developers have taken advantage of the new green building initiatives.

However, Lantz does say there have been no major developments in the downtown core since the new rules were put in place a year ago.

The public will have a chance to comment on the new enhanced bylaw at a public meeting next week.